Singers Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan whon collaborated on Christmas classic Fairytale of New York back in 1987

In this day of Spotify, you can listen to all the songs you like, maybe even Fairytale of New York by Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan, but only someone who knows what they're doing can give you what you want.

Admit it, the urge to skip to the next track of a Spotify playlist is overwhelming, people never just let the music play anymore. They’re looking for a better tune... next!

It's become a channel-hopper world and it's rare nowadays that a playlist would be listened to properly. That's why radio is great.

You hear a random song on the radio and you turn it up and sing along, you wouldn’t have the patience if you had the choice.

So I would spend hours recording songs from my music collection onto cassettes and CDs. Once I realised that girls I was dating really liked receiving these tapes, I knew I was on to something.

I'd spend a lot of time picking the songs and writing the track list for them to keep. This really was the best gift I could possibly give them. Don't knock it until you try it.

If you don’t believe me, put a playlist together for someone this Christmas. I promise that gift will outlast all of the other expensive tat you might buy for them!

Don't bother with Christmas TV

IT’S that time of year when everywhere you look it’s buzzing with the Christmas TV lineups. Where do you start with the highlighter pen?
Well, my advice is don’t bother your ho-ho-hole, because here’s how it will go:
You’ll set the recorder for the movies you haven’t seen and any good TV shows (once you’ve weeded out the EastEnders Christmas misery special), because you know people will call over, you’ll be out or your granny will need a lift home.
By mid-January you still won’t have sat down and watched anything you recorded. By June you’ll just delete it all anyway to make space on your box. And next December you’ll just start circling TV shows again.

My DWTS hope for the Fair City wan

MUSIC mogul Louis Walsh called it "Dancing With The Staff" and, in fairness, that's a pretty funny description of RTE One's Dancing With The Stars.

The show's bosses have teased out the names of victims/contestants who will be taking part next year.

I'll be pretty distraught when the endless announcements finish and I know who they all are. They're feeding me the crumbs they found under the canteen table and we can't get enough.

My favourite episode was in series one. Who could forget the reality fella who had too much fake tan on? He ended up looking like an Oompa Loompa who had been in an accident with a Wonka Bar.

Seriously though, I hope Clelia Murphy — otherwise known as Niamh from Fair City — does well. You can have favourites.

If I was watching next year, I would definitely be cheering for her.

New DC Comic hero should hold water

WITH all the heavy rain we’ve been getting in the ­mornings recently, it seemed appropriate that we chat to the director of new movie Aquaman this week.
If James Wan had needed to shoot a scene with Jason Momoa’s half-Atlantean/half-human hero under water at a bus stop, he could have easily filmed it in Dublin.
That wasn’t in the film’s script but it got a laugh out of him and one of the stars of the movie, Patrick Wilson.
The two men have worked together before, but this time they are taking on what must be one of the last superheroes from DC Comics not to have his own stand-alone movie.
How does James deal with the super fans?
He told me: “Yeah, they can be tough but I like to think they’re coming from the right place. They’re so passionate about the characters.
“We wanted to be respectful to the comic book but also introduce him to new fans that know nothing about the story.”
Aquaman is in cinemas this day next week.

Cap got your speciest tongue?

PETA — the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals — this week issued a statement that surprised many people.

"Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves with it. Here's how to remove speciesism from your daily conversation."